The Gay Movement’s Pioneer

Why is it that I often call Frank Kameny the gay rights movement’s closest thing to King? Because, like King, he rooted his life in the Declaration of Independence’s promise and never lost faith in it, or with it. All men are created equal. Frank held his country to its founding promise and helped it find the better angels of its nature. That is why I remember him not just as a great gay activist but as a great American patriot.

He used to say that his fight for equality at home was an extension of the fight he waged against tyranny in Europe. And so it was that in June, when his car passed, I didn’t cheer. On an impulse, I stood at attention and silently saluted. I will never know if he saw me in the crowd, but I know that, if he did see me, he understood.